Tea Party fave in NY sends racist, explicit emails

TEA PARTY FAVE IN NY SENDS RACIST, EXPLICIT EMAILS…. In New York, Republican gubernatorial hopeful Carl Paladino has a habit of generating controversy. He recently insisted, for example, that the Affordable Care Act will be deadlier than the terrorist attacks of 9/11.

Carl P. Paladino, a Republican candidate for governor from Buffalo, drew fire on Monday for racist and sexually explicit e-mail messages that a left-leaning Web site claimed he had sent to friends and business associates in recent years.

The messages, which were published on WNYMedia.net, a Web site devoted to politics in western New York, included pornographic images and what appeared to be a video of Africans dancing in traditional dress that was titled “Obama Inauguration Rehearsal.”

Another, a picture of a cargo plane crashing into the ground behind a group of black people, was prominently captioned with a common racial epithet for African-Americans.

That last one, sent last summer, shows an airplane landing behind a group of black men. The caption on the email reads, “Holy Sh*t. run ni**ers, run!”

Paladino’s campaign manager said the candidate “regrets” some of the messages, but blamed Democrats for trying to “smear” Paladino with emails Paladino sent. (No, I don’t understand the argument either.) The far-right Republican yesterday also tried to blame Democrats for drawing attention to his own disgusting messages.

The right-wing candidate is facing some GOP primary challengers, but Paladino has positioned himself to their right, and claims to be the only gubernatorial hopeful who “agrees 100 percent with conservative values.” Of course, “values” is subjective — Paladino, who is married, fathered a child with his mistress in the ’90s.

Nevertheless, the emails should effectively drive Paladino off the political stage. The head of New York’s Democratic Party said in a statement that the emails “disqualify him completely from public service.”